Bent
by Just a Thought
Summary: Goten starts having nightmares, but when they begin to start to come true, and more and more evil faces start to come into play, can he and the others save their world this time?
1. Sweet Dreams

Bent: Part 1   
  
Warnings: This could develop into a long, bloody fic. Just a fair warning and eventually, I'll probably have to step up the rating to R.   
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT. That includes the characters, their belongings, unique ideas like senzu beans, and the settings. I don't make any money off of what I write.  
  
Notes: This is the idea I was talking about long ago when I wrote If I Could Change Time (which was back around the end of May. So it's had a while to roll around in my head.) Oh yes, you'll find out who Deo is soon.   
  
^_^ No messy prologue here. This is the beginning, so sit back, and take a trip through a alternate world after the Buu saga (nope, I don't believe in GT). Trunks and Goten are considerably older though as in 21 and 20.  
  
----------  
  
Mirror, mirror, thou art bent,  
It's clear as your unshapely form reflects,  
A happy, little peaceful world,  
One with absolutely no defects.  
  
I looked for myself within your shadows,  
For the hurt boy with no one close nor near,  
What I saw was a twisted soul,  
Wrought from hate, torment, and fear.  
  
Yet when the raindrops turn to blood,  
And the world is worse than hell,  
Will you not regret taunting me,  
Instead of helping when I fell?  
  
Play with fire and surely get burned,  
Thy evil deeds shall meet retribution,  
Mark my words, I'll get my revenge,  
And genocide seems the perfect solution.  
-Deo  
  
***  
  
Flames flickered within the man's eyes mixing with glowing tears that had yet to be shed. An intensity that had been dormant all too long slowly crept through his body. At the same time a chill ran through his spine. So many feelings, all weighing the warrior down. Regret, loss, anger, hate, emotions beyond the description of words. Half of him burning alive in anger, half of him drowning in the deepest corners of his mind amid the pools of sorrow.   
Behind him and in the distance the flames burned higher and higher reaching out towards the blackened sky. It was as though the destroying fire was seeking shelter from it's own wrath. Buildings crumbled and towers which had once been magnificent works of art, that had silently boasted man's creativeness and power now lay in ruins, mere memories of what had been.  
"Why." Was the only word that escaped the young mans lips as he fell to his hands and knees. "Why." He whispered as one lone tear managed to roll down his cheek and fall to the tainted soil. Again the man turned his eyes upon his once beloved city. The flames reflected in his eyes, the orange and red colors entwining with yellow in a deadly dance. "Why can't I die too," he whispered. "this is worse than ten hells combined." He shut his eyes tightly and tried with all his might to block the agony. "Worse than death." He mumbled. He seemed to choke when he whispered. "All those people I loved, gone..." his eyes opened once more to look again at the blazing flames which fueled his growing rage. "Gone..." He clenched one fist his anger ever rising. "So kill me!" he screamed to the destroyer that lurked in the shadows smirking malevolently. "So I won't suffer any longer!"  
Goten sat bolt upright in his bed breathing hard and in a cold sweat. Though his forehead was covered in perspiration his mouth was as dry as a desert. "It was just a dream." He reassured himself. "Just a dream." Shakily he grabbed the nearby clock. 4:09 in the morning. "Too early to get up." He said and carefully set it back down. He settled back down in his bed, wiped the sweat off his forehead, tried to push the dream from his mind, and closed his eyes. But sleep wouldn't reclaim him. Whether he was still bothered by the nightmare, or he was too alert, or whether he was a bit afraid to go back to sleep for fear that the dream would return, Goten didn't know. So he just lay there trying desperately to push the memory out of his mind which would not leave.   
  
***  
  
It was like any other normal day. The birds chirped outside and sun light trickled in through the widow landing on the half Sayian's eyes. He opened them slowly as if it were painful, the dark pupils still unfocused with sleep slowly adjusted to the light. He blinked once before he sat up and stretched reaching his arms up high above his head and uttering a load yawn. Then he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. He then got up and started to head for the bathroom. Or at least he tried to. He was stopped by Videl grabbing him around the torso.  
"Where are you going?" she asked sleepily.  
Gohan paused for a moment before replying. "I'm just going to get up and take a shower."  
"No, don't get up, not yet anyway." Videl paused and Gohan sat down again. He started to think she had gone back to sleep, or at least until she continued after taking a deep breath, "Not yet, it's Saturday." She sighed, then furrowed her eyebrows. "Gee, your really uncomfortable to snuggle up against."  
Gohan snorted in effort to keep from laughing. Videl obviously hadn't opened her eyes yet. "That's because your snuggling against my back."  
Videl yawned, "I knew something was wrong."  
Gohan shifted around in her arms a bit till he was facing her and took in a deep breath then grinned, "Silly." he paused and focused on Videl. "I'm so lucky to have you and Pan in my life." He reached one hand up and played with a few short strands of Videl's hair. "I don't know where I'd be without you."  
Videl sighed, "What brought that up?" she asked. "I'd rather not talk like that." She too paused before going on. "But I don't know what I'd do without you either."  
Just as the two adults were dozing off again in each other's arms, there was a loud knock on the front door. Gohan groaned and sat up once more. "Wonder who that could be..." he muttered but quickly went and changed.  
  
***  
  
"Vegeta! Get up!" Bulma shouted. "If you don't I'm sure some small third world country would be more than happy to have enough food to go around twice!"  
"Woman, you do and I'll be more than happy to break some of that fine machinery in your lab!" he yelled from bed. Vegeta smirked at the snort that came from outside the door. "I'm not getting up till I'm ready." Then Vegeta turned over in the bed. Before he could go back to sleep though, Bulma threw the door open rather forcefully nearly causing the Sayian to jump in surprise.  
"You do and you can count on your gravity machine being down for a good month!"  
Vegeta sat there for the longest while contemplating his choices before he groaned and flipped over. "I'll get up, but only for the sake of training and eating."  
"So glad you put your family in front of your interests." Bulma retorted sarcastically.  
Vegeta didn't say anything, he just smirked and started to dress. Occasionally he let out a little snort.  
Bulma put her hands on her hips and cocked her head to one side. "And what's so funny?" she asked.  
Vegeta, done dressing, walked over to Bulma and stopped on his way out of the door. Then the Prince of the Sayians pressed his index finger to her lips. Bulma's response was one of surprise, but she didn't say anything, she just opened her eyes wider. He smirked. "Nothing, just thinking." Then he removed his finger and wrapped his arms around her waist. Bulma in turn wrapped her arms around Vegeta's neck and smiled. "Should I be in shock? Your actually being nice today." She said.   
"Too nice." Vegeta agreed and removed his arms as well as her's. "I'll see you at lunch." He snickered then walked off towards the kitchen to his awaiting, cold, breakfast.  
Bulma sighed. "Oh Vegeta." Then she turned and went to her lab. "You can be so arrogant. Why'd I ever fall in love with you?" A faint smile appeared on her lips before she smacked herself in the forehead. "Don't think like that, you might accidentally say something out loud."   
  
***  
  
Gohan walked towards the front door only to find his younger brother and Trunks waiting for him at the door. ~Either they want to play a joke, or they've come here with something urgent.~ he concluded in his mind. "And I doubt it's the latter."   
"Hi Gohan." Goten said with a huge smile.  
"Yep, it's the latter."  
"Hi." Trunks said grinning.  
Gohan groaned. "Okay, what are you planning on doing?"  
"Nothing!" both friends said defensively.  
"Oh?" Gohan smirked.   
Both Goten and Trunks looked at each other and grinned. "Nothing!"  
"Why do I not believe you?" Gohan asked yawning for about the millionth time that morning.  
Goten sighed with a smirk on his face as he stretched his arms. "Do you think we ought to let the cat out of the bag?" he asked.  
"Yeah, I guess so. It's not nice to keep secrets." Trunks laughed.  
Before Gohan could stop them both Goten and Trunks had jumped him and proceeded to drag the oldest half Sayian away. "Hey, let me go!" he protested. But he didn't power up. Best let them have their fun at his expense and have them move on to torment Vegeta then dwell upon him.   
But as they took to the air high above Satan City something began to bother Goten. He'd seen this view somewhere else. But where? He took the scene in slowly. "I feel like I've been here before." He whispered.  
"Huh?" Trunks asked hearing his friend whisper to himself. "Something wrong?"  
No." Goten replied. Slowly the gears in his mind started turning back to the dream. "My nightmare!" he cried surprised. He pictured the skyline with flames. Something that made him shiver. It was exactly the same.   
"What?" both Trunks and Gohan asked sensing a change in Goten's happy-go-lucky mood.  
"N..nothing." Goten stuttered.  
"C'mon." Trunks pried. "We no you better than that, what's bothering you Goten?"  
Gohan was soon feed and began to float as Goten let go and shook his head. "Nothing."   
"Are you..." Gohan was cut off as Goten took off leaving a vapor trail behind him.  
"It was just one dream. Just a dream!" Goten screamed for all to hear. But he didn't really believe it. It may have been deja vous, but add flames to the skyline and everything was too familiar, too unexplainably strange.  
"There is something really wrong here." Gohan mumbled.  
  
***  
  
God, not Gohan. Not him too. Maybe he could forget the blank staring eyes, if there were eyes at all and not just bloody bodies, after all they were other people who were merely strangers to him. But not Gohan. Not his older brother. Goten slowly knelt before the dead body. "Gohan." He whispered choking back tears. "No." The younger half Sayian winced and shut his eyes as they fell upon his brother's battered body. Unfortunately, when he did this the terrible memory came back of his brother's death. How that...monster had plunged his hand into Gohan's gut and twisted his grim covered fingers about. Then yanked out the eldest half Sayian's intestines and played with Gohan's organs as if they were a puzzle only he could put together.  
Then he turned towards Goten. There might have been a lust for blood behind those crimson eyes. But what Goten saw was a ruthless killing machine who cared not about his work, or the lives he ruined, nor about anything else.  
"W..why?" he managed to stammer. He'd seen the havoc wrecked my the monster who looked like a human.  
He wore what could be called the upper part of the Sayian uniform, an armored plate, only there was a blood red symbol on it's right side. The bottom half of his attire was much like the pants of a gray gi, further below that he wore brown boots. One of his hands brushed away shoulder length blond hair exposing his eyes, blood red, just like the blood on his hands.  
"Because I'm going to inflict misery to every god damn fucking thing in the universe." The figure spat.  
Goten took a step back utterly shocked. "But why?" he asked. "What have we done?"   
The figure sneered. "Plenty." He advanced pulling the sword from it's sheath on his back causing the light to momentarily blind the Sayian highbred. "You've all led happy little lives. That's more than enough don't you think?"  
"No." Goten retorted finding the blade suddenly at his neck, but he continued, "No one every leads a completely happy life."  
"And I suppose no one lives in utter hell their whole life, do they?" The figure asked angrily to which Goten didn't know how to reply. "Well, I have." The mysterious stranger spat. "You have the pleasure of knowing loved ones. And that's why I'm going to take everything away, including your life and everyone else's." He laughed sinisterly. Then removed the sword from Goten's neck and snickered. "But where would the fun be killing you now?" he asked more or less to himself. "No, I think I'll let you suffer before I finish you off."  
And Goten had ran. He'd run for is life. The half Sayian looked back once to see if the man was still on his heels, but when he glanced over his shoulder he didn't see him. And the fact that he didn't know where the monster in the form of human was at the moment scared the shit out of him.  
  
***  
  
The next night Goten didn't dream of the horrific nightmare. A blessing, and yet a curse, instead it was of Pan. She was by the side of some pool, she was laughing, until she fell in. Goten didn't think Pan knew how to swim, after all she was still pretty young. And his fear was confirmed when she began frantically calling for help and trying to keep herself afloat. Again Goten woke up before the dream was completely over. In a way he was glad, in others he was fearful. He didn't know of what to make of it, not that any dream had made sense lately. So he called his brother.  
"Goten?" Gohan asked groggily. "It's the middle of the night! What are you calling for?" Gohan's eyes widened when Goten started telling him about his dream. "But that's impossible, you couldn't have known." He muttered, "That happened just yesterday and Videl, Pan, and I haven't told anyone."  
"Oh god." Goten whispered, his thoughts turned back to the first dream. "Just because one came true doesn't mean the other one will." He whispered. "Just please don't let it be a foretelling of the future..."  
  
***  
  
It rained harder that night than Goten ever believed possible. It just kept coming down like there was no end to it. The leaves on the tree outside the window held countless raindrops and as a result drooped, spilling the water onto the ground below. Maybe the rain was a warning of impending doom. Maybe it wasn't, but it sure set an eerie mood, Goten could hear nothing but the endless rain and thunder as he sat in his room. In a way, the rain was peaceful. But when he had looked out his window and saw only endless gray clouds, never letting in the starlight, it had dampened his spirits. So he chose to just sit there on his bed and watch as the occasional lightning bolt struck strange images across the ceiling and wall. Add the fact that he was still scared to death of even going to sleep for fear of the nightmares, and well, Goten was not having a pleasant night.  
And then he got an idea.  
He snuck out of his room and looked around at the dark house. He was sure that his father wouldn't wake up, even if Goten caused the roof to cave in. His mother on the other hand he wasn't quite so sure about, she'd probably wake up if he even coughed. So he tiptoed to the kitchen, looked around once, and opened the drawer...  
Only to have it squeak as he pulled it open.  
"Damn drawer!" he cursed under his breath. Goten waited. Maybe his mother hadn't heard, maybe she was still asleep. The young half Sayian tiptoed over to his parents' bedroom door. Slowly and carefully he put his ear to the wooden door and listened. Nothing... Just his father's snore and his mother's quiet breathing. No screams of, "Goku get up! There's a burglar in the house!"  
Silently Goten went back to the kitchen...only to trip on his way back.   
"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!" he cursed quietly. So he listened. He couldn't hear anything different coming from his parents' door. So he tiptoed back to the drawer which was still sticking out and grabbed an object. Then he tiptoed back to his room leaving the drawer still jutting out from the counter.  
"Mom'll probably just shut it absentmindedly." He figured.  
Back in his room, Goten shut the door again and pulled out the object. It happened to be a flashlight. He glanced once at the clock, 1:00 in the morning, it was uncharacteristic of his to be up this late, but the last thing he wanted was to have more nightmares, especially after last night. Then he flicked the small light on and grinned.  
"Perfect." he whispered. Goten set the little flashlight down on his bed so that it was pointing upwards at the wall. Then he lowered on hand in front of the light and began making shadow puppets. "I am Trunks." He whispered out of the side of his mouth doing a really bad impression of his best friend. "And I shall bow down in front of the great Goten!" Goten put another hand in front of the light. "Oh no you don't!" he imitated Vegeta, "You are my brat and I will tell you what you can and can not do! For I am a royal pain in the ass!" Goten chuckled, or at least he did until he ran across a problem, how was he going to do a third person, after all he only had two hands, and he wanted to get in on the action. So he positioned himself so that one of his feet were in the light. "Well I am Goten," he chuckled, "And I say you all had better bow down before me before I get really angry."  
The puppet play went on for several more minutes until Goten got tired and shut the light out. Then he laid back in his bed and tried to get some nightmare free sleep. But as he lay there one thing began to really bother him. It was the fact that every time the lightning flashed, illuminating up his walls, there was always a strange humanoid figure. That wouldn't have normally bothered him, after all, with all the trees around, there could be some pretty spooky figures cast. What bothered him was that the figure kept growing larger and larger, which could only mean it was growing closer.  
Goten stayed rooted to the spot trembling. "What am I so scared of?" he berated himself after a few moments. If it is some psycho killer like they portray in those movies, I could easily snap his neck before he knew what hit him." He mumbled. There was a tap on the glass and Goten nearly jumped through the ceiling. "Stay calm. Your more powerful than a psycho killer." he assured himself and crept towards the window.  
Slowly he started to pull the curtain sideways before jerking it open and screamed. What he saw was a guy dressed in a yellow raincoat, wearing a huge grin, with a couple stray purple hairs falling out of the hood, drenched of course by now.  
"Are you going to let me in now?" Trunks asked, his voice slightly muffled by the glass. "Or are you going to let me catch pneumonia first?"   
"I ought to!" Goten replied making a face. "You nearly made me have a heart attack."   
Trunks just grinned, rubbed his arms. "Maybe I could give your dad one."  
Goten gave him a 'that is not funny' look.  
"C'mon, I'm freezing!" Trunks complained rubbing his arms faster.  
Goten unlatched the window and opened it letting in a torrent of rain and wind. The dark curtains billowed out and whipped at the walls. Trunks just jumped in through the window. When he'd moved to the corner of the room, Goten hastily shut the large window and pulled the curtains closed. Then the younger of the two turned and asked, "What are you doing up at this hour?"  
Trunks shrugged slightly. "I could ask you the same question."  
Goten cocked an eyebrow, "Well, I asked first."  
"Okay, geez, I couldn't sleep, so I decided to come over." Trunks grinned.  
Goten coughed. "Uh, yeah, at 1:00 something in the morning?"  
"Well, you were up weren't you?" Trunks replied. "I saw the light in your window while I was out walking."  
"Through the curtains?" Goten asked skeptically.   
"Your curtains are pretty easy to see light through." Trunks laughed. "What? You never knew?"   
"No." Goten grumbled. "So, did you decide to drop in for any particular reason?"  
"No." Trunks replied casually walking over to the window and peeked out the curtians. "Looks like it's gonna rain all tomorrow though." He commented out of the blue.  
Goten nodded. "Yeah, there won't be much to do."  
"I was thinking," Trunks said, "you know that room where your dad trained, and some of the others did too preparing for my dad's arrival?"  
Goten thought about it for a few moments. "Yeah, I can't remember the name, but I remember it."  
"Let's ask if we can go train in there tomorrow, it might be interesting."   
Goten nodded with a sly grin thinking of the look on Mr. Popo's face. Then yawned.  
"Sleepy?" Trunks asked.  
"Yeah." Goten replied shuddering at the thought of diving back into the dark world of unconsciousness and nightmares. Who knew what awaited him on the other side of reality. Most likely a grisly scene of mutilated bodies. Some without faces, just cold, bloody tissue, torn to shreds. And behind it all a raging inferno of fire consuming the city. It had grown worse every night. The same nightmare which just lasting longer and longer, repeating the first part and then adding more where it had left off the night before.  
"Well," Trunks said breaking Goten's dark thoughts and snapping him back to reality, "Do you mind if I sleep over here tonight?" he asked looking back towards the window as the wind thrashed a branch continuously at the window making an eerie scraping sound.  
"No." Goten replied shaking his head. "It's alright if you stay here."   
Goten swore that Trunks cracked the biggest grin he'd ever seen at that moment, "Well then," the older, purple haired boy chuckled, "dibs on the bed!"  
"Oh no you don't!" Goten laughed. "You'll get the couch and like it!"  
"Oh yeah?" Trunks asked.  
"Yeah."  
"Then I challenge you to...to a duel!" he grabbed a floor lamp and quickly unplugged it from the outlet.   
In return, Goten grabbed a yard stick.  
Trunks was the first to lung with his makeshift sword. "Haha, you'll never beat me Goten."  
Thrust, parry, thrust, parry , lung, lung.  
"Oh yeah?" Goten sneered, blocking with the yard stick.  
Thrust, parry, lung.  
"Oh, and I suppose you took lessons from Yajirobi?" Trunks asked with a perfectly straight face.  
Goten couldn't stop laughing and fell to the ground, rolling around in laughter as Trunks moved the lamp in for the kill. He touched it to Goten's heart and the purple Sayian smirked. "It looks like the fair damsel, The Bed, shall be mine." He laughed. And then he couldn't help himself and fell down laughing too.  
Both guys had a hearty chuckle, or at least till Chi Chi threw the door open moments later clad in her nightgown and a hastily thrown on bathrobe. "Goten! Trunks!" she cried.  
A few minutes later Goten found himself grumbling on the floor in his sleeping bag, griping about how things never went his way. With his ears still ringing from his mother's 'brief' lecture, and Trunks' snoring from above.   
  
***  
  
"No watch out!" Goten screamed frantically.  
The purple haired boy turned his face towards his best friend. He just smiled. Smiled like there was nothing to worry about. The beaming smile just stayed etched on his face only momentarily.  
"Trunks!" Goten screamed in dismay as the smile was shattered, and a look of surprise and pain passed the youth's features. From Trunks' middle, a sword protruded then it sliced up then down, almost too fast for the Goten to see. The result was Trunks being split in half. Goten shuttered. He wanted to close his eyes tightly, no, he wanted to tear his eyes out. They'd seen too much. Too many horrible things.  
And then that vile creature, that looked like a man walked up to him. "Just the beginning." He whispered, hate, jealousy, and satisfaction thickly coating his words. "Just the beginning."  
Then everything faded to black.  
"Goten. Goten! Goten!"   
The half Sayian heard someone calling his name frantically. First he opened one eye slowly and the other soon followed. He looked up to see Trunks shaking him. "Geez, don't scare me like that." Trunks said a bit shocked.  
"Huh?" Goten asked still a bit dazed from waking up.  
"You kept yelling in your sleep." Trunks shuddered remembering how desperate and forlorn his friend had sounded.  
"Yelling in my sleep?" Goten repeated a bit puzzled. "Did anyone else hear me other than you?"  
"Not that I know." Trunks replied calming down his electrified nerves. "Do you want to talk about it?"  
Goten shook his head quickly. "No." Before Trunks could question him further he changed the subject. "So is it still raining?"  
Trunks nodded.   
"Still want to see if we can get to the lookout?" Goten grinned or as best as he could considering hat he had just seen his best friend diced up like a vegetable.  
"Yeah." Trunks replied grinning, that mornings events forgotten, or at least temporarily. Flying would ease things up too. The feeling of the wind rushing around one's body always seemed to make the day look brighter, even if it was raining.  
  
***  
  
"Now shut your eyes." Mr. Popo said. "When you open them again, you will no longer be here. I should warn you that even though you can't actually be killed in the alternate world you will be visiting, you should still be careful."  
Both young men nodded their heads, closed their eyes and prepared for their little adventure.  
When Trunks opened his eyes again and looked around he was a little bit shocked. "Wow." He said. Then he noticed Goten still had his eyes closed. "Hey dummy, you can wake up now." He poked Goten in the ribs.  
Goten's eyes fluttered open. "Huh? Oh..." he began. "There must really have been a battle around here." He commented on the scenery filled with skeletons. It brought back terrible memories of his nightmares  
Both friends looked around at their surroundings. From what it looked like, they were standing amid ancient ruins, below their feet it looked like they were standing on sort of a cobble road.  
"Hmmm." Trunks muttered touching his hand to a nearby wall covered in dust. "Interesting place, but it looks like it's deserted."  
"Maybe." Goten agreed. "I'm going to get a look from the air."  
Trunks nodded in agreement and watched as his friend hovered upwards.   
After looking around for a bit Goten called out from the air, "Nothing. It looks like we're in a huge labyrinth that once served as a city." He looked towards his right only to see a huge crater. "Wonder what happened there." He commented on the large scar.   
"Huh?" Trunks asked floating up beside him. "What do you...Oh..." he trailed off noticing it too.  
The two both knew what the other was thinking and slowly flew towards the large hole. If they were killed and sent back now, Mr. Popo probably wouldn't agree to sending them right back. So they approached cautiously and landed when they were a few feet from the crater's perimeter. Both slowly looked over the edge only to find a black puddle.  
"Whew." Goten sighed. "That was a little too melodramatic for me."   
"Yeah." Trunks agreed. "Wonder what that stuff is though."  
"Well, you can wonder what it is, I'm not going to." Goten replied.  
"Aw, c'mon, it'll be fun." Trunks said.  
"Nuh uh." Goten said firmly.   
"What's wrong, are you chicken?" Trunks probed.  
"Nope, I just don't want to get sent back so soon." The younger half Sayian replied.  
Seeing the point Trunks sighed. "But what are we going to do that's exciting?"  
The black puddle moved.  
"Huh?" Goten asked doing a double take, his eyes opening wider.  
"What?" Trunks asked.  
"The...the puddle, it moved!" Goten cried.  
Trunks looked at his friend skeptically, "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it?"  
This time Trunks saw it move to.  
"Holy!" Trunks cried as Goten clamped a hand down on his mouth.   
"Shhhh." He whispered. "Maybe it won't notice us."   
Slowly, the puddle shifted, bit by bit. First, it formed a round object near the top of it's figureless ooze. Next came two appendages and what appeared to be a torso, then two legs. It stretched once, then looked up and saw the two friends. It made some sort of strange noise, that sounded familiarly like a chuckle and started to climb up towards the two Sayians.  
"It's...humanoid..." Goten whispered unbelieving what his eyes had just seen. At this point both friends started to inch back as the figure got closer and closer.  
"Hell with this." Trunks said removing Goten's hand, "I'm flying." And he got up and did just that. Goten soon followed his example. Unfortunately for the two, the humanoid figure took to the air too. And the slow climber, now turned into a fast flyer. In fact, it even started to gain on the two.  
"Trunks." Goten commented looking back at the rapidly incoming thing. "There are two of us, one of it, I don't sense a very strong chi, one just strong enough to fly, why don't we just beat the pulp out of it? Or at least see if it's friendly or not."  
Trunks chuckled. "Hehe, why not?"  
The two friends each set down on the ground. Ready to attack, but also ready to use peaceful means. And they felt themselves tense as the figure landed and drew near. But the worst shock was yet to come, because as the figure drew near, what could be called the black 'pond scum' started to be replaced with color, as if someone were peeling an exoskeleton off of the person beneath.  
Slowly, blonde hair, hair emerged, a visor covering it's eyes, followed by an armored top with a strange blood red symbol, gray pants and large brown boots. "Hello." It, or rather he said in a low voice. "Have you come to play?" he smirked and withdrew his sword.  
"Who, and what are you?" Trunks asked narrowing his eyes.  
Goten just fell back, his eyes as wide as the could possibly go as he started hyperventilating. "That guy...no..." he shut his eyes and tried to shake the image from his head. "It isn't possible." He cried weakly. "He shouldn't exist, this is all a nightmare!"  
"Goten, there's nothing to worry about." Trunks reassured his friend. "He has a much lower ki level than us." Goten looked up at his friend and Trunks was quite taken aback by the haunted look in his eyes. Trunks looked back at the stranger.  
"Who and what am I?" the young man, not much older than the other two said thoughtfully. His lips twisted into a cruel smile. "I am living hell, the name's Deo."  
  
TO BE CONTINUED...  
  
You can find a picture of Deo on at http://www.geocities.com/mirai_rice/art.htm he's under the badly drawn chibi Goku. (this is in text format so I doubt the link will work) Oh, and for any of you who are wondering, yes, I'm just getting warmed up. Anyway, what do you think? I'm curious. So any feedback welcomed. (Including flames, yes, I've gone so low as to beg for even those.)  



	2. Only in My Nightmares

Bent: Part 2

Warnings: Bit a blood and gore as well as cursing.

Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT. That includes the characters, their belongings, unique ideas like senzu beans, and the settings. I don't make any money off of what I write.

Notes: I know you people are out therrrrreeeeee, somewhere in ficcy land. but if you really don't know what to say, just put whatever comes to your mind. However strange it may be. On the other hand…is it really that bad that you people aren't reviewing it? Should I just stop writing once and for all and make room for other authors? Thank you ysa, ice queen, Chelsee, and Sailor Wolfie. ^_^ Your reviews really made my day. I think a lot of people were scared off by the size -_-'

Hehe, I'm going to have to steal Deo's ego…oh yes, and after some thinking, I'm changing the way I spell stuff, for personal reasons, I'm reverting back to 'ki.' And spelling Sayian/Saiyan Saiya-jin, because it doesn't make sense if I say Ice-jin and then Sayian. ::begins to confuse even herself::

----------

Last time: 

"Goten, there's nothing to worry about." Trunks reassured his friend. "He has a much lower ki level than us." Goten looked up at his friend and Trunks was quite taken aback by the haunted look in his eyes. Trunks looked back at the stranger.  
"Who and what am I?" the young man, not much older than the other two said thoughtfully. His lips twisted into a cruel smile. "I am living hell, the name's Deo."

His eyes slowly opened inch by inch. Slowly and painfully to the drip, drip, dripping. He did not care where he was, for all he knew it was some twisted nightmare. No, not a nightmare, it was reality. A reality, no, a life so twisted it was beyond compare. No one could have, or should have suffered as much as he had. And yet, the curse had been bestowed upon his shoulders. And inch by inch he drifted closer and closer to the edge where a thin line is draw between sanity and insanity. And slowly the darker side beckoned to him, welcomed him with open arms and into the clutches of despair. And for some reason, he was accepting it. Gradually, the horror of the blackness, and the terror of the unknown became warm and friendly. But even in the darkened world he still managed to find shelter. Somehow…

And the young child stared at his surroundings. 

Peaceful sleep had waved good bye all too soon for him. Sleep, and wonderful dreams, ah, if only the world were like that. Where the abnormal seemed perfectly acceptable, and the darkness was as good as the light. A world where perhaps, people didn't see evil as quite so evil, and good wasn't quite so good. Everything was simply muddled. And it seemed no one cared. Ah, if only the world could be like that. People wouldn't picture devils as little horned, bat winged men, bent on consuming every soul, and they wouldn't see angels as pretty women with large feathery wings enveloped in the light of heaven. Everything would just be gray, as it was meant to be.

The boy stretched once before sitting up and looking out the window. The birds were singing as usual. Damn, how he loathed the despicable things. They were always so happy and cheery. Why couldn't it just rain? The child's eyebrows furrowed as he charged up a ki blast. Terrible little bastards they would die for trying to spread goodness. Or at least they would have least his mother hadn't called for him to come down for breakfast. The youngster muttered a few curses before pulling on some sweats under his tank top and heading down to eat.

As the young man descended, he looked over the railing and watched as his mother stood over the frying pan humming cheerfully. The very sound of it nearly drove him crazy. But he kept his anger repressed. He should have thought it wrong to feel such hate and spite towards the one who had reared him and nurtured him over the years of his life, or rather, her actions. No, she was one of the only people, even things that could get him to smile, he did not hate her, just her cheerful manner. But everything seemed to be passing by all too quickly, and hate seemed to consume him now, even hate towards his mother didn't seem out of line to him. And because he repressed it from others, they never knew the darker side of him. The one being eaten alive and yet welcoming the pain.

He reached the bottom of the stairs and plastered a smile on his face and swept the blond hair out of his eyes ready to face his mother, any questions she might ask, but most importantly the utterly disgusting cheerfulness she managed to have. Maybe he envied the joy. Maybe he was just a shade to dark to enjoy it anymore. He didn't know, and it was likely no one else would know either. Maybe he would take his dreadful secret to the grave. 

**_Ring around the rosy,_**

_ _

_It's hard to believe that a world like this still exists, it's as if I'm in a bubble, waiting to pop, and then fall upon the jagged rocks below. If only life were simple. If only fate were different. If only. But it isn't, and there's no hope in the world now. Nearly everything is lost, and everything not lost shall be gone soon too._

_ _

He was too young to feel such hate and contempt, he should have been learning about phrases and clauses, not the art of warfare and yet there he sat, at a perfectly normal table, in a perfectly normal chair, in a perfectly normal house, in a dark, cruel, world. And while some would call it abnormal, it was the only world he'd known, one ravaged by wars and fire, consumed in fear, hate, and death. And yet here his mother was, trying to make everything seem okay, and the boy hated the cheerfulness.

So he sat there, wearing a perfectly normal smile, trying to be the perfect little son, even as the darkness ate away at him from within.

"Mom?" he asked.

The lady turned around. She had various scratches, scrapes, scars, and bruises, but in her own way she was beautiful. And while the boy may have hated her cheerfulness, he could not hate his mother, herself, she was one of the only things that he didn't hate.

A real oxymoron, that's what he was_._ _How can you hate everything, yet still love someone?_ He asked himself bitterly. He lived in a world that was only holding on by bits and pieces of thread, yet in his home his mother comforted and soothed him, made him actually smile once and awhile, though he hated himself when he did. Maybe he felt that he had to be razor sharp in a world as cold as stone, and that happiness would make him soft. Maybe there just wasn't an explanation for him. 

_ _

The boy got up without touching breakfast and walked towards the door. Despite his mother's protests he didn't care. He just left the pancakes and headed for the door. He knew that on the other side there waited hell. But he didn't care, he opened up the door and stepped outside. Pancakes may have been a luxury in the present time, but he had work to do.

Oh how he regretted the day. He hadn't even said good bye to her. He'd just left without saying a word. And inside, the consequences of the day drove him still madder, teetering on the brink of reality and that of another world, one so dark and dreadful he couldn't find his way about in it. Only cry out for help.

**_Pocket full of posy,_**

**_ _**

That day the city had been attacked by the duo that claimed they fought for peace and for justice. How was it possible that they could fight for something so wonderful as peace, something the boy would never see or feel on the inside or outside, and wreck a city destroying hundreds of lives. Or perhaps they were fighting for good. Perhaps the boy's vision of the world was muddled. He didn't know anymore. He was too young for this sort of thing.

But he remembered coming home, home to the carnage and bloodshed. And he wondered in fright what had happened to his mother.

Then he saw her. The one that seemed to take all his troubles away. The one who could always get him to smile despite the darkness and horror. And in that moment the darkness fled, as if lifted. 

"Mommy!" the young boy cried running over to the huddled, dirt covered form. She may have been dirty and nearly the exact opposite of her true self, but he would have recognized her anywhere. "Mommy!" he cried throwing his arms around her neck. "Oh Mommy, I'm so glad to see you again." His eyes filled with tears of joy, and he forgot that he was supposed to hate joyfulness. "I thought I'd lost you forever." He hugged his mother tighter. 

The boy was rather surprised that his mother didn't hug him back, talk to him, or move. He passed it off as exhaustion. 

"Mom, I love you." He whispered snuggling close to her with his arms still around her neck. "I'm sorry that I haven't told you that as much as I should." But something bothered him. The normal beating of her heart that he could always feel didn't seem to be there. "Mom…" he whispered. Tears of fear now replaced the ones of joy. "Mommy, mommy? Please answer me!" he cried out frantically. 

He withdrew his arms to gently shake her, but when he did, he stopped in shuddered in horror. His arms, they were covered in blood. As if in answer to his silent question, his mother's head lolled forward exposing a huge bloody gash from the midpoint of the back of her head to the top of her back. Again the little boy shuddered in horror. 

**_Ashes, ashes, we all fall down._**

"No." he whispered.

He backed away in fear. Now he understood why his mother hadn't hugged him back, why she hadn't kissed him on the forehead like she so often did. Cold flesh couldn't do that. She was gone. Forever.

"NO!" the boy cried running away from the grisly scene. For him it was the only thing he could do. Try to run from his fears, try to hide from the pain. Past the other bodies of people he might have known, trying to outrun the anguish. And in that moment, the darkness came back ten fold reaching it's icy hands out to grip the boy. The boy tried to push it away, he tried and tried, but it was too strong, it seemed to latch itself to his soul, like a chain.

In that moment the boy felt heavier than he had before in his whole life. He didn't even notice when he ran head first into wall, or when he kept repeatedly plowing head first into it, he didn't care, he just wanted to escape. Escape the pain and everything in his fucked up life. The world which had once seemingly been kept at bay by his mother as best as a parent could, suddenly became very real, very scary, and very big. He realized that he had been wrong to hate happiness when he had it, for now he had lost everything, and he truly had no joy. Just a feeling of emptiness and despair.

Every shred of joy he might have held somewhere deep inside, despite the darkness, vanished. The internal war that had raged inside of him ceased, and darkness claimed it's victim. 

The boy's eyes looked up towards to the sun shining brightly as it slipped behind a veil of clouds. Like his former life, it disappeared. 

***

This lone memory raced through the young man's mind as he said those words, "I am living hell, the name's Deo." But in a way, he was wrong, he wasn't 'hell' he was merely a survivor of it.

**_Ashes, ashes, we all fall down._**

Trunks cocked one of his eyebrows. "Is that so?" he asked a bit skeptically. "I…" he was cut off as Deo unsheathed his sword and made a sudden lunge towards Trunks who narrowly escaped the blade. "So much for peaceful tactics," Trunks muttered, "BURNING ATTACK!" the ki attack flew from his outstretched hands and engulfed the man. "I guess you'll feel right at home where your going then." Trunks smirked referring to Deo's description of himself. "I told you there was nothing to worry about Go…" Trunks called to his friend, but once again was interrupted, only this time by a sharp pain in his back which send him flying through the air through the bird, but destined to land like a brick. Though the fall wouldn't kill him, it would certainly smart, so he put both hands out in front of him ready to perform a springboard like move and catapult himself back towards the assailant.

He never reached the ground though. The mysterious man calling himself Deo caught the halfling mere inches from the ground by one of his feet. Trunks looked up at his now upside-down attacker. "Gee, so glad you broke my fall." He sneered.

Deo simply returned the sarcasm with his own, "I wouldn't want to ruin your face just yet pretty boy."

Trunks' scowl deepened, he didn't like being called that, especially not from another guy, that was just disturbing. Without a word he punched Deo in the right knee cap as hard as possible, the adrenaline that came from fighting building higher and higher all the while.

The effect was the one he wanted, and Deo let go and Trunks flipped in the air to land standing position before crying, "RENZOKU ENERGY DAN!" And let loose hundreds of small ki discharges, creating a machine gun effect, and raising a significant amount of dust and dirt in the process. When Trunks could see clearly again, all he saw was a crater. He looked around, but couldn't see Deo anywhere at all, and he couldn't sense his ki, even though it was low, he would have been able to sense it, it never occurred to him that maybe this fighter could suppress his ki as well. He sighed. "I guess Mr. Popo was wrong," he grinned and extended a hand towards Goten who had fallen down in shock sometime during the fight, "there's nothing that there's nothing here that could threaten us, I didn't have to even power up to Super Saiya-jin."

Goten accepted the hand and pulled himself up to face his friend. Something still bothered him deeply. "I guess so." He looked over Trunks' shoulder and immediately felt his jaw drop open.

"What?" Trunks asked and turned around only to be met with a sharp punch to the chest that send both Goten and himself sprawling in the dirt. And Trunks looked up in horror to find his adversary with no hint of a scratch on him. "Oh geez." Trunks grumbled pulling himself up off the ground and quickly powered up to Super Saiya-jin. 

"Too bad you didn't even manage to bruise me." Deo commented thoughtlessly brushing the dust out of his hair. He looked over at the young man with purple hair and smirked. "My, my, what determination, too bad it will only get you killed." The man said.

"Hmph." Trunks snorted. "I see you have an ego, and a rather large one at that."

"Maybe." The evil man said with a smirk, "But I was only stating the obvious." He paused while Trunks pushed himself to attain more strength then just raw Super Saiya-jin gave him. "I see you've been fighting…with your bad hand, so to speak." Deo said looking down at his sword as he spoke and fingering the hilt distractedly.

"Yeah." Trunks let out a half laugh. "You may have had the advantage earlier, but now I'm gonna waste you like you were nothing." He smirked as he said this.

Meanwhile, Goten sat off to the side, still trying to deal with the fact that his nightmare was standing before him in real life. "If this guy has such a low power level," he reasoned, "then why did he come out of the attack with no scratch." And then the obvious dawned on him. "Trunks! Look out! The guy can suppress his ki!"

Trunks looked up, a bit shocked at what his friend had just said. "What?" he began, but was immediately knocked silly as Deo landed a kick to his head.

"The little prick is right." Deo admitted, "But you'll be sorry he was when you see my true power." He smirked, and then began to power up. And just like that, as if a flip had been turned on and then off, he quit powering up.

"What the hell?" Goten muttered in horror. He got the feeling something _very _bad was going to happen.

Trunks just squinted his eyes, trying to prepare for whatever Deo might try to throw at him next, tensing, and waiting for the man standing across from him to make a move and attack. He reasoned that he would probably be able to block a physical attack, or at least see it coming, and he had yet to see the guy throw a ki blast. But what was his true power _really_ like? Trunks couldn't help but wonder at the deadly mystery. "Maybe he's bluffing." Trunks whispered to himself.

What Deo did next, however, threw Trunks for a loop. He powered up some sort of small ki ball in the palm of his hand and just held it there. Normally, one would immediately let it charge one up as fast as possible and let it loose to try and catch the receiver off guard the best they could. But something told Trunks that this wasn't what Deo planned to do. After all, he was just holding the glowing ball of fire above his head, and from the look of it, didn't plan on throwing it anytime soon. It wasn't growing, so Trunks concluded Deo wasn't waiting for it to achieve perfect power, but nevertheless it was unsettling.

_What the hell is he trying to do. That isn't an attack, he would have thrown it by now. Maybe he's waiting for me to just drop my guard. Or maybe that's some special…_

_ _

Trunks' eyes widened in dismay. And Deo, sensing that Trunks had figured it out threw the ball of energy into the air. And that was where it stayed, unfortunately, only briefly, then it descended towards the ground at an alarming pace. Trunks, however, was not going to give up so easily and jumped away from the spot he had been standing at. 

"You'll have to do better than that!" he cat called.

"Oh, we'll see who can out master the other." Deo said, he cruel grin growing broader.

"Huh?" was all Trunks had time to say before the ball of light and energy snapped back through the air right towards Trunks. "Oh shit." Trunks muttered trying to dodge. Fate was not in his favor that day, and everywhere he turned he met the ball of ki. Twists and turns in midair, narrow escapes, passes and dodges. And through it all, Trunks felt like he was being toyed with. He grit his teeth and continued the loops, arches and back bending misses.

Without warning, Trunks turned towards the ball of ki that was pursuing him, and let lose his own generic ki attack. "Take that!" The young man with purple hair screamed.

And then he watched in utter horror as the two ki blasts didn't collide and battle for dominance, Deo's blast simple cut through Trunks' attack and went up the center of it, just as if it were some sort of liquid being sucked up a straw.

"No." Trunks whispered as the blast came near. Then his eyes darkened. "NO!" he cried flinging the beam of light off towards his left hoping the blast inside the blast would follow the other one. However, he had no such luck. Deo's ki attack cut right through the 'walls' of Trunks' attack and continued towards the purple haired boy. "SHIT!" Trunks cried and took off from his standing point in the air. His anger a frustration was building, he couldn't even out a scratch on this guy, and here he was dodging a ki attack, not even really fighting him. _Looks like he's done something to Goten's mind too._ The thought of Deo doing something to Goten pushed Trunks' anger higher and he began blurring everywhere so quickly Goten's could hardly keep up with his rapid movements. 

Through it all the ball of ki kept on his trail, but Trunks was beginning to wonder if it was even ki or not. _Why would this guy keep trying to pin me with this attack if it's only ki?_ Trunks found himself thinking. _Surely if it were only ki, he would charge up another blast and try to hit me with both, but he's only using one._

Trunks narrowly dodged yet another swipe from the side.

_So what is it's purpose? It's probably not a generic ki blast, it probably has some sort of significance. Well whatever it is, there's no way in hell I'm letting it touch me._

_ _

__Trunks blurred down to the ground in front of Deo and smirked. Then blurred away, the result was an image being left temporarily of a smirking Trunks standing right in front of the young man controlling the strange ki attack. The attack swooped down after Trunks but unfortunately, didn't hit Deo, just managed to stir the dust around him.

Deo smirked, _So this guy wants to play games, does he?_

The mysterious man snapped his hands up and just as suddenly as he had done this, the ball of 'ki' switched directions.

_What the hell is he doing now?_ Trunks wondered, only to realize who the target was at the same second. "Goten! Watch out!"

Goten's eyes widened as the glowing ball approached at alarming speed, but he found himself rooted to the ground. _This can't be happening. It can't be. This is all just a dream, it has to be! I never reallywoke up today. This guy calling himself Deo is **not** here._

_ _

And then the brightly glowing ball disappeared, only to reappear in front of Trunks. The lavender haired boy's eyes grew wide in shock, just before the blast hit and consumed his body in a terrible burning sensation. "No!" he protested. "No!" There was a sudden flash of light and everything seemed to stop for a few seconds.

Goten's vision soon returned and he looked around frantically. He couldn't see Deo anywhere. But he saw Trunks, and probably what was strangest thing was that Trunks seemed totally unscathed. "Trunks?" Goten asked. Goten's friend didn't turn around. Goten knew his friend could hear him, but he asked a bit louder this time. "Trunks?"

This time the figure turned around to face Goten. But there was something wrong…he didn't seem like the light hearted boy Goten knew so well. A cold chill swept over Goten as Trunks descended from the air to land beside his friend. But he pushed it to the back of his mind. "I wonder what happened." He muttered looking around himself and turning in a circle. "Where do you think it could have gone?" he asked. "Trunks?" he asked, turning back to face his friend who this time had his back to Goten. "Trunks?" Goten repeated.

Trunks didn't reply, but a sinister laugh escaped his lips before he turned around. 

"Is there something wrong?" Goten asked. Trunks was making him feel uneasy. Maybe it was all a joke though. A practical joke would be like Trunks. Goten confirmed there was something definitely wrong when Trunks turned and landed a hard punch to Goten's jaw. "What was that for!?" The younger halfling exclaimed in surprise.

Trunks didn't reply, he just grinned and kept up his assault.

"Trunks!" Goten protested.

'Trunks' snickered. "Oh, I'm not Trunks. I'm Deo." He smiled.

Goten's eyes opened wide.

***

"Do you think there's something wrong?" Dende asked watching both Trunks and Goten twitch.

"There might be…" Mr. Popo trailed off and shut down the device.

Slowly both young men's eyes opened. But a strange occurrence Mr. Popo nor Dende could have expected happened when the did this. Beside Trunks a glowing figure appeared. Slowly the glow was replaced my color. Human skin. It should not have been possible, no, it wasn't possible, and yet, somehow Goten's worst nightmare had come true. Deo had been released and was now standing in his world.

The young man took a deep breath before snickering sinisterly, "I think I'll like it here." He muttered.

***

On the other side of town five dark figures appeared over a hill looking upon the city.

"There's been a power flux." A distinctly female voice said. 

"Any orders?" a male voice asked.

"No, stay put, we need to see what's on first." Another male voice replied, obviously the leader.

Please remember to leave a comment. I don't care what you say. I love getting feedback though. ^_^ You can drop me a line at [mrice@dbzmail.com][1] and rant my ears off telling me how I need to get parts out faster. : )

   [1]: mailto:mrice@dbzmail.com



	3. New Faces

  
Bent: Part 3  
  
Disclaimer: See part 1  
  
Warnings: There's some language in here, gore, and slaying of innocent children, if you can't stand to see 'child' and 'pain' in the same sentence, then I suggest you stop reading.  
  
Note: I've been having trouble uploading, just to let you all know.  
  
----------  
  
Last time: Deo is now loose and ready to destroy the world, there are now five new faces, though their intentions are currently unknown...  
  
Taste the bitter tears of war,  
See the bloodstained flag,  
What was once a symbol of pride,  
Is now just a glorified rag.  
  
The female voice could be heard audibly sighing, "Sir." she said when she spoke up again, "Would it be alright for me to go scout around?"  
  
There was a long silence before the leader replied. "It wouldn't hurt, just try to stay unnoticed."  
  
The female nodded and then hopped down to the ground far below. She landed with a thud, but it didn't hurt her one bit, she just stood and walked through the forest. "I wonder what the others are doing." she mumbled. "Probably just sitting on their lazy rear ends." before she could continue further with her grumbling though, a sudden, sharp, cry pierced her ears and made her eyes open wide. What on earth was that?  
  
She raced and dodged in and between gigantic trees coming closer to the voice. It didn't sound too far away. She could probably reach it within five minutes if not less. The cries were growing louder, after all. She slid to a stop on the outskirts of a small clearing. She could definitely hear sobs from very close by, but they were no longer piteous wails. She kept looking around a bit stunned, where was the voice?  
  
Her answer came as a little hand, which curled itself around her right leg and stayed there firmly attached. Sniffles now came from right below her. It was a small boy, not older then three, he must've gotten lost out in the forest somehow. Ever so gently the woman detached the boy from her leg, then she smiled and looked down at him, opened her mouth and, hit the unsuspecting child square in the eye with her elbow, but that wasn't the worst of it, she reared back once again and popped him soundly in the eye socket once again. At the first blow the child cried out sharply, but when the second blow came his scream was accompanied by a faint crack as well as blood beginning to drip down his nose. And she repeated this time after time, until finally she grew bored of using her elbow. Then she picked up the struggling, crying boy by the scruff of his neck and continued pummeling him about.  
  
"Stop crying." she muttered.  
  
The child didn't, if anything it just wailed louder.   
  
A cruel smile crossed the lips of the evil woman, just before she put both hands on either side of the child's head and began pressing. Even as the child begged for her to stop she continued the torture. Pressing harder and harder until it occurred to her, if she bashed the boy's head in, she would get blood all over her upper half, so she threw the boy to the ground and pressed a foot down on the poor boys head, then laughed maliciously as she cracked it with ease, then continued to stomp on what remained of his head, till several pieces of skull were all that marked what had once been a cute little face.  
  
Then, after she had finished slaying the boy, she continued scouting out the area.  
  
***  
  
"Daddy!" a girl of about 12 screamed as her father tried to protect both of them, there were tears rolling down her cheeks as ki blasts whizzed back and forth, apparently the two had been caught in the crossfire between two deadly enemies.  
  
"Stop it! Cease fire!" the father cried waving the one arm he had left, the other was just a bloody stump that had been ripped off in an explosion minutes before. "Please! Think of this child! Please, stop, she is too young!"  
  
Had any of the Z warriors been in the battle, they would have surely stopped and protected the two, but this was different, there was one lone figure at one end of the street, while five others stood at the other end.  
  
The girl screamed in panic as stray ki blasts hit the wall above their heads, in another couple of seconds, she was hit by a ball of ki that tore her upper and lower half completely apart. It was a small and concentrated blast, and therefore didn't explode upon contact with the girl, instead it went further back and completely through the building knocking out the foundation and causing the building to lean over to one side with several beams of wood, bricks, and various other substances falling down and pelting the father. The man, severely wounded, shook with convolutions, and fell unconscious.  
  
Both evils, responsible for the blood of an innocent continued to battle, in spite of the people around them desperately trying to flee.  
  
"NO!" Goten screamed waking up early in the morning in a cold sweat like he had been doing for so many nights. His hands were shaking terribly and there were tears rolling down his face. Five more people? Five more evils, that couldn't have been anyine he knew on that street battlefield, it must have been new evil, but they had been fighting Deo, Goten was sure of that. If they were fighting him, how could they be evil, yet how could they stand by and murder a little girl and countless others without trying to avert the destruction to some other place where no one lived? Goten put his head in his hands, which were still shaking. "This is just too much for me." he whispered.  
  
Then his thoughts turned back to the day before. And his hands began to shake for a new reason, they shook with hate.  
  
---  
  
"No! Come back you coward!" Trunks screamed.  
  
The only reply was a malicious laugh that sounded more like a cackle, Deo was now loose on the Earth. And because he could hide his power, the two friends couldn't track him. Goten had fallen to his knees and punched the floor as hard as he could. "WHY!?"  
  
Trunks looked down at his friend, slightly perturbed at Goten's outburst.  
  
"This is insane! And if my dreams are going to come true then I might as well kill myself now!" he screamed.  
  
"What are you talking about?" Trunks asked.  
  
"In my dream, he destroys the world...it's like a prophecy waiting to come true."  
  
---  
  
Goten's thought's turned over the nightmare, piercing it together bit by bit, as much as he loathed it, and shuddered. And then, like a ray of light something had struck him. Always in his dreams, the man calling himself Deo had blood red pupils, but when he had appeared before the two, he had been wearing a blue visor over his eyes, in fact, it looked as though it were attached to his face. If that part of his dream had been incorrect, then maybe, maybe there was a possibility that the future wasn't cast in stone.  
  
Goten's eyes lit up, he had hope again.  
  
***  
  
The same night the woman who had earlier killed an innocent little child floated up to where her companions waited. She flipped several locks of her reddish/orangish hair over her shoulder and looked at her companions through green eyes that blazed with a secret lust for violence. " I'm back she said nonchalantly adjusting the skintight suit.  
  
"About time." another muttered, the dark spiky hair falling in his face and partially covering his coal black eyes. His arms were crossed over his chest. He gave a slight "Humph." to emphasize his point.  
  
"Well, I made a lot more progress than any of you did."  
  
"28, 30, shut up." a young man with spiked blond hair growled.  
  
"Stay out of this 32." The woman, #28, snapped.  
  
"All of you just be quiet." the leader yelled.  
  
"Sure, just because your the leader of this sorry little band, 29, doesn't mean..." 30 was cut off as 29 blurred over and within seconds had his hand around 30's throat. "This is no time for arguments. So all of you just be quiet."  
  
30 nodded weakly as 29 set him down.  
  
"What about you?" 28 asked batting her eyelashes at the last figure, 31, who looked like 32's twin. They both had blond hair with exactly the same spike, and they both wore a gi, similar to that of the Z fighters, but the color of the gi and the color of the belt were opposite on each other. 32 wore a black gi with a white belt, and 31 was dressed in a white gi with a black belt.  
  
31 didn't say much, he just slightly blushed before speaking up, "Well, I am getting bored, but it's better to wait then rush head first into something unknown."  
  
28 shook her head before punching 31, he looked younger then any of the other's there, even his twin. "You don't have an opinion on much." she laughed.  
  
"Well," he shifted, a bit uncomfortable, "I just hardly ever voice it."  
  
"That, little brother," 32 said putting a hand on 31's shoulder, "can be dangerous. If you always keep your thoughts up here," he pointed to 31's head, "and remain 'lifeless' on the outside, everything will get bottled up, until, poof! It explodes."  
  
31 shrugged. "Most opinions of mine don't need to be voiced."  
  
Before the conversation could go farther, 29 stopped them. "Shhhh." he whispered. "Androids, get ready, there's something coming our way." The other four looked at him in question, but crouched down low, ready and tense.  
  
With a backflip, the mysterious person landed from the air, he was brandishing a sword. Then the clouds above parted slightly and the moonlight fell upon a bluish visor and golden hair, as well as a cruel smile.  
  
***   
  
That same night, Bulma sat at her computer late at night typing away steadily, she should have been in bed hours ago, but this project was too demanding, and so she simply could not go to bed. Rather, her eyes stayed glued to the screen and her fingers raced faster and faster.It was hard to believe that even with six lunatics on the loose, destroying more and more of the city with every minute that passed, and Vegeta, her son, and all her close friends out trying to stop them, that her life still retained the normalcy of work.  
  
"Bulma," she muttered to herself as she wiped away some of the sleep that was building in her eyes, "If you keep this up you'll be too tired to do anything within a few days. Go to bed. Your working yourself too hard."  
  
She yawned once and then took her own advice and clicked on the shut down option. She'd catch at least a few hours of sleep tonight. Then she watched as her computer went through all the normal steps of shutting down, or at least until the screen flashed a brilliant bright white and started to reboot. Bulma found herself staring at her computer and berating herself for not having a light on. She fumbled in the darkness for the switch, when she found it, she flicked it on, unfortunately there came no light.  
  
"What the hell?" she cursed.   
  
She was tired and irritable, this was the last thing she needed in the wee hours of the morning. So she got up and went around behind the computer and studied the wires as best she could in the darkness. They seemed fine, so she stepped back around and took a look at the computer, it too was perfectly normal. She selected the 'Shut Down' feature once again and watched as the computer shut down again, this time the procedure was nearly successful, but as it neared the end of the function it flashed a bright and large 'X,' then the screen turned red, and the screen stayed, illuminating the room in an eerie bath of bloodish color.  
  
This time Bulma didn't get a chance to swear or say anything at all, the computer screen was...moving, it looked as though there were ripples in the red coloring. This was all too abnormal for Bulma and she panicked and flipped the switch on the surge protector, this should have completely cut the power and turned the computer off right away, but it didn't. She flicked it back and forth several times, her heart beating faster and faster each time, could this be a virus? If it were, there was no telling if someone had planted something or tried to crash the whole Capsule Corp. computer network. Still no response from the computer.   
  
And then...  
  
Then something happened that completely defied all reason and logic. A hand shot right through the screen stopping inches away from Bulma's nose. No, not a hand, the skeleton of a hand, mere bones. And yet they moved, twisted and bent at the joints. Then after the hand there emerged and arm, and a shoulder. And then the bones twisted and another hand emerged along with the twin to each of the other parts that had come forth from the screen. And then the skull found it's way out, it was a hideous sight, with a large hole in one side and only one dark, burning black eye. Then the torso emerged, legs and feet. All of it squeezing, somehow, through the computer screen, until the figure was able to jump to the floor and stand up. Bits of sinew hung here and there, allowing the bones to function, although it was rather limited movement.  
  
"Ah..." the creature sighed with a snake-like hiss. Then it turned to Bulma, and cocked it's skull slightly.  
  
Bulma's eyes stayed wide in fear, this thing was a nightmare, it was unreal to her.  
  
"I'm afraid that since you've seen me like this you must be extinguished."  
  
Bulma slid back, clawing at the ground beneath her, a scream silenced with the horror before her, still born in her throat. Still, she managed to choke out , "Who, what are you?" her question nearly unhearable because she was shaking so badly.  
  
"I am Prototype X, designed to kill, destroy, maim, and conquer, I have no knowledgeable equal." Then the prototype walked over to Bulma and put it's hands around her neck. "Deleting." it said, and then in one swift move it wrung Bluma's neck, a sharp crack was heard and when X let go, Bulma's lifeless form fell to the floor and stained the carpet. "Primary objective, form acceptable..." it paused for a moment and apparently scanned it's surroundings, "...Earth body, beginning now."  
  
  
  
  



End file.
